1.
The good Government (of Ahura 1 ) is to be chosen (among all wished-for things 2 ) as that lot which most of all brings on (our happiness).
Actions that oppress us it opposes 3 , through the holy Order (which pervades it), and with the pious zeal (of its true servants).
Therefore, O Great Creator!
let me p.
179 produce, and help bring on (that Sovereign Power) which is the best for us at every present hour.
2.
And first I will ask for 1 these two blessings of Your own, O Thou Great Creator, and thou His Righteous Order!
and I also ask of thee, Our Piety (personified, as well); and grant me this Your Sovereign Rule over our desired wealth (to give and to preserve it; and likewise) those spiritual blessings which are advantageous for our worship (of Ahura) through (the inspiration of His) Good Mind (within the soul).
3.
(And it is not I alone who thus appeal to You; I speak for all) who are guarded in the (ceremonial and moral) actions of Your (law), and by those (inspired) words (which proceed) from the tongue of Thy Good Mind (as he speaks within Thy Mãthra).
Yea, these are all assembling (each) to hear You, of whom Thou, O Ahura Mazda!
art the foremost guide 2 and light.
4.
(And they cry aloud to Thee, O Mazda!
I speaking with them, and in their name): Where is the (promised 3 ) lord of our thrift (the embodied law, saving us from the most dreaded dangers that we fear 4 , the thrift-lord) of (our) ready zeal?
Where p.
180 does he stand to (show us) mercy?
Whither are (Thy) Righteousness and the Bountiful Âramaiti (our Piety) approaching?
From what direction comes Thy Best Mind (to inspire and to guide)?
And whence (again), O Great Creator!
Thy Sovereign Power (to be our ruler and defence 1 )?
5.
And it is the tiller of the earth who asks this of Thee, O Ahura!
(Thy chosen saint himself); he has asked this all of Thee, striving to discover how he may gain to himself the sacred Kine (and with all wealth in herds beside.
And he would seek this) moved by the motives which flow from Thy Righteous Order (and Thy cause), upright as he is in actions, and wise in his self-humbling worship (of that 2 One) who, as a righteous ruler, has appointed a just controlling guide for those whom He has made.
6.
(And in partial answer to his question, and to solve his doubt, I now declare the truth): He who gives to this (good citizen) that which is better than the good 3 ; yea, He who bestows on him in accordance with his religious choice is (our) Ahura Mazda (and not p.
181 a false god of the Daêvas 1 ).
And this will He bestow through His divine Authority (established in preparation here), while on the withholder of the sacrifice, who offers nothing to His (cause), He will send worse than the evil (and that not here alone, but) in the last turning of the creation in its course!
7.
(And as Thou wilt bestow thus graciously on him), so grant me also, O Thou most bountiful Spirit Mazda, Thou who hast made both the Kine and the waters and the plants 2 (for her support) both Immortality and Welfare, those two eternal powers, and through Thy Good Mind in the doctrine (which is revealed through his inspired words 3 ).
8.
Themes
◆Ahura Mazda Principlecosmology
The divine ordering principle of truth and light.
The passage is a direct invocation of Ahura Mazda as the Great Creator and supreme guide.
Pronoia — the doctrine that the divine actively orders the unfolding of the cosmos and human affairs toward intelligible ends, against pure chance or blind necessity.
The text affirms that the Creator appointed a just controlling guide and orders the unfolding of affairs.
Final, collective cosmic judgment as an event in which the wicked are sentenced and the cosmos restored; distinct from psychopomp_journey (individual passage at death) and emphasising verdict where Zoroastrian frashokereti emphasises restoration.
It describes a future judgment where the withholder of sacrifice receives worse than evil in the final turning.